Essentials of Psychodrama Practice

Social Work, 2013

Psychodrama is the process of enacting or reenacting relevant aspects or roles from current and past events to instill hope in clients who are facing life issues. This article examines the outcomes of a five-stage psychodrama treatment through a social worker's direct participation in a partial hospitalization program. Observation notes and supervisors' inputs were used to analyze the therapeutic outcomes of 13 patients who assumed the role of protagonist. Rather than through use of a symptom checklist, the treatment outcomes were measured on the basis of the ability of each patient to connect feelings to expressed concerns and anticipated changes. Through content analysis of communication patterns, these concerns were linked to eight therapeutic themes: change in emotions, family of origin issues, impact of group work, relationships with others, impact of the past, self-awareness, selfworth, and shift of personal views. This study highlights the importance of the combined effort of both the therapist and the patient, making psychodrama a bridge to further treatment. Psychodrama is both a clinical method and an educational opportunity for social workers.

Social Work, Sociometry, and Psychodrama, 2021

Advanced psychodrama directing techniques are presented in this chapter. These advanced interventions offer a depiction of the level of clinical sophistication demonstrated by expert psychodrama directors. The awareness of group sociometry within the psychodrama enactment is described while portraying the multiple layers of object relations activated for participants in a psychodrama session. Advanced techniques for involving audience group members and deepening the emotional involvement of auxiliary role players are discussed. Also included in this chapter are an overview of clinical role assignments, facilitating moments of multiple protagonists, and constructively using projective identification in the group process. Content from the Therapeutic Spiral Model is offered, specifically the practice of prescribing strengths-based roles and considerations for safely facilitating scenes with trauma-based roles. Multiple strategies are offered for de-roling when more emotionally charged...

In recent years, group work therapy has been expanded rapidly throughout the world in helping professionals. Psychodrama, as a form of group psychotherapy, has already shown the potential for bringing about positive change in participants for almost 80 years. However, while psychodrama is primarily a form of group psychotherapy, psychodrama practitioners and researchers have seldom recognized it as a group work. Hence, the connection between psychodrama and group process has rarely been addressed. This review examines the development of research in the connection between psychodrama and group process. An extensive literature search including books, reports, monographs and journal articles has been conducted. It is found that before the new century, psychodrama practitioners and researchers have largely ignored the group process. In addition, most research findings were not published in peer-review journals. Encouragingly, in the last ten years, most empirical studies of psychodrama have incorporated group process in their analysis or discussion. Moreover, most of these studies are reported in peer-reviewed journals. However, there is still a lack of research studies which examine the interaction of psychodrama and the group process. It is hoped that the results of this study will stimulate further research in this area and can increase the awareness among psychodrama practitioners, trainers, and researchers of the need to be equally cognizant of both psychodrama processes and group work.

2021

This chapter is devoted to the clinical practice of psychodrama in individual sessions. Fundamental differences between psychodrama in groups and one-to-one contexts are discussed including the use of auxiliary roles, the therapeutic relationship, and modifications for basic psychodrama interventions. An overview of the use of the empty chair, objects, and/or the therapist as an auxiliary ego is included. The limitations and strengths of using psychodrama in individual sessions are discussed. Multiple psychodrama scenes (strengths-based, intrapsychic, and interpersonal) are depicted from a social work practice example with clinical processing.

Psychodrama has been shown to bring about positive change by reducing inhibition and promoting spontaneity. Most studies have focused on the psychotherapeutic effects of the enactment techniques. However, the nature of clients’ psychosocial schemas arising in enactments, in multi-session psychodrama groups, has not been explored. In this study, the schemas that arose in enactments in a three-day experiential psychodrama group were examined. An across case and within case approach was used with the video recorded group sessions. The data was analysed using qualitative descriptive methods and Young’s early maladaptive schema framework. The dominant themes were that of disconnection and rejection, and emotional inhibition. These findings lend support for psychodrama as a group psychotherapy treatment that can reduce inhibition and promote spontaneity.

2021

This chapter includes an overview of foundational psychodrama theories—action theory, catharsis, and surplus reality. The three phases of a psychodrama group (warm-up, enactment, and sharing) and the five elements of a psychodrama (stage, protagonist, director, auxiliary egos, and audience/group) are described. Morenean philosophy and sociometric theory are revisited as they relate to psychodrama. The similar elements of psychodrama theory and social work are underlined including the importance of mutual aid, spontaneity, creativity, empowerment, self-determination, interpersonal skills, relationships, group stages, and roles.

Social Work, Sociometry, and Psychodrama, 2021

This chapter will briefly introduce further methods that Moreno created related to psychodrama, as well as other approaches similar to psychodrama but developed by others. Social microscopy and sociodrama will be outlined pertaining to Moreno’s additional dramatic approaches. Axiodrama, monodrama, autodrama, ethnodrama, bibliodrama, and teledrama each will be introduced as other dramatic approaches based on psychodrama. Drama therapy, gestalt therapy, Playback Theater, Theater of the Oppressed, Internal Family SystemsTherapy, Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor Therapy, and family/systemic constellations will each be briefly presented with their similarities and differences to psychodrama.

Social Work, Sociometry, and Psychodrama, 2021

This chapter is devoted to outlining the research literature of psychodrama and group therapy. Evidence-based practice trends and their impact on practice in the field of social work are described. Psychodrama is also framed within the research bases of the humanistic-experiential psychotherapies, creative arts therapies, and body- and movement-oriented therapies. While the quality and quantity of research available on the effectiveness of psychodrama are limited, current findings support its use to as a treatment for various mental health conditions. Shortcomings and critiques of research in psychodrama are included while indicating a need for higher quality psychodrama research studies. The research history of psychodrama’s founder, Jacob Moreno, is also described to provide insight on psychodrama’s historical relationship to research.

Social Work with Groups, 2021

sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this book are included in the book's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the book's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. To the future generations of psychodramatists and social workers may the contents of this book enliven your practice and enhance the lives of those you serve Series Preface We are pleased to introduce you to this New Springer Nature psychodrama book series titled, Psychodrama in Counselling, Coaching and Education, edited by Jochen Becker-Ebel and by Scott Giacomucci (who is also the author of the first book in the series). The series situates psychodrama practice and research in Asia and beyond in a global context. It provides a unique and innovative resource for the latest developments in the field, nurturing a comprehensive and encompassing publication venue for humanistic psychodrama and sociodrama in therapy, coaching, and education. The series publishes peer-reviewed volumes related to therapy, psychotherapy, counselling, coaching, human resource development, organizational dynamics, education, and training. This series will annually publish two monographs, edited volumes, and/or textbooks. The rich tradition of Dr. Moreno's methods, including sociometry, psychodrama, and sociodrama, has been primarily disseminated through private postgraduate training institutes over the past 100 years of its existence. This academic book series brings the creativity and innovation of these experiential approaches more fully into academia with publications included in academic databases freely accessible to thousands of individual students, researchers, and professors. The series reflects on cultural creativity and new developments beyond Dr. Jacob L. Moreno in the second century of the existence of psychodrama. The editors, with the assistance of distinguished scholars from Brazil, Germany, Indonesia, India, Taiwan, Turkey, and USA specializing in a variety of disciplinary and thematic areas, welcome proposals that are related to the above-mentioned wide-ranging psychodrama studies. Books in this series will also emphasize the unique histories and methodologies emerging in international psychodrama communities. The platform created by this series highlights psychodrama practice wisdom from around the world in the English language, making it more accessible for a wide audience. Additionally, this book series will include books that systematically integrate psychodrama philosophy and practice into other established fields of group psychotherapy, social work, counseling, psychology, coaching, trauma theory, education, and organizational development. vii viii Series Preface The series promotes the understanding of psychodramatic and sociometric tools which are relevant for counselors, supervisors, trainers, educators, creative arts therapists, group workers, and community or organizational leaders. The series will appeal to researchers, practitioners, and graduate students in the behavioral, social, medical, psychological, and business sciences as well as leaders in education, the corporate world, and politics. As series editors, we would like to extend our gratitude to Springer Nature, Mrs. Satvinder Kaur, and her team, for believing in the creativity and strength of psychodrama. This series will serve to promote the methods of sociometry and psychodrama in multidisciplinary contexts to ultimately enhance the provision of social services, psychotherapy, education, scholarship, and research throughout the world.

Journal of Group Psychotherapy, Psychodrama, & Sociometry, 2002

In this article, the authors combine psychodrama and cognitive behavioral therapy techniques in applied group settings. They illustrate the application of some CBT techniques that they found helpful in the three phases of psychodrama with college students and patients diagnosed with mood, substance abuse, anxiety, and personality disorders. Although both CBT and psychodrama models stress the discovery process through Socratic questioning, the use of certain structured CBT techniques (e.g., the Dysfunctional Thought Record) provides additional ways of stimulating the development of self-reflection and problem-solving skills. Key words: CBT and psychodrama, CBT techniques, cognitive behavior therapy and psychodrama, psychodrama and CBT ALTHOUGH TRADITIONAL PSYCHODRAMA is conceptualized in terms of three main techniques-warm up, action, and sharing-there is no dearth of techniques that may be applied in those three phases (see Treadwell, Stein, and Kumar, 1988, 1990). The versatility of psychodrama stems from the variety of techniques that have been borrowed or adapted from various individual and group psychotherapy modalities. With the increasing popularity of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques, especially those developed by Beck and his colleagues (see Beck J, 1995: Beck, A. T., Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979) in the treatment of anxiety and depression in individual psychotherapy,